European Parliament and Council presidency reach agreement to strengthen the resilience of critical entities across the EU
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- Published: Tuesday, 05 July 2022 09:01
The European Council presidency and the European Parliament have reached a political agreement on a directive to enhance the resilience of critical entities in Europe. Work will now continue at a technical level to finalise the provisional agreement on the full legal text. This agreement is subject to approval by the Council and the European Parliament before going through the formal adoption procedure.
This new resilience directive aims to reduce the vulnerabilities and strengthen the physical resilience of critical entities in the EU. These are defined as entities providing vital services on which the livelihoods of EU citizens and the proper functioning of the internal market depend. They need to be able to prepare for, cope with, protect against, respond to and recover from natural disasters, terrorist threats, health emergencies, or hybrid attacks.
The agreed text covers critical entities in a number of sectors, such as energy, transport, health, drinking water, waste water, and space. Central public administrations will also be covered by some of the provisions of the directive.
EU Member States will need to have a national strategy to enhance the resilience of critical entities, carry out a risk assessment at least every four years, and identify the critical entities that provide essential services. Critical entities will need to identify the relevant risks that may significantly disrupt the provision of essential services, take appropriate measures to ensure their resilience, and notify disruptive incidents to the competent authorities.
